Matthew Tully: Local issues require less partisanship, more partnership

Jan. 2, 2013

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I'm not complaining, but my block has begun to look like New York City during one of those sanitation strikes of the 1970s.

Because of holiday schedules and snowstorms, those of us who normally have our trash picked up on Tuesdays are scheduled to have it collected for the first time in 15 days today. So at my house you'll find an overflowing trash bin, garbage bags stacked on top of garbage bags and a concern that critters will litter the block while feasting on last week's leftovers.

I understand the quirks of holiday scheduling (Christmas and New Year's Day came on Tuesdays this year), as well as the troublemaking whims of Mother Nature. So again, I'm not complaining. I bring this up only because the long break in trash service has reinforced a core belief I have about local government:

It's about the basics -- and those basics are crucial.

I thought of that again as twice on recent days snowplows drove down my quiet side street, clearing snow that in past years would have remained until it melted. There were times years ago when I had to leave my car parked blocks away because my street was snowed in.

When it comes to local government, the little things can be so big.

Local government is about street repairs and garbage pickup, public schools and police patrols, code enforcement and street planning. It's about encouraging development, rejuvenating neighborhoods and making sure the city meets the needs of residents and workers. And, yes, while it is also occasionally about building sports stadiums, it is most often about deeply important things that go largely unnoticed.

There's an old saying that politics should stop at the water's edge, meaning that the nation's politicians should unite on issues of foreign policy. Of course, that's a quaint philosophy these days.

What I'd like to see in its place is a rule declaring that politics -- at least politics based on little more than empty partisanship -- should stop at the county line. Partisanship serves no purpose when it comes to filling potholes and catching criminals.

But the D.C. divide has seeped down to local government with an increased ferocity in recent years. Many Democrats and Republicans in Indianapolis are letting partisan concerns get in the way of the serious matters facing the city. It's silly and dangerous.

Case in point: Republican Mayor Greg Ballard vetoed eight ordinances passed in 2012 by the Democratic City-County Council majority. That's eight times that the two parties refused to come together, and the vetoes symbolize valuable time wasted on ordinances everyone knew would go nowhere. One of the vetoes was over new council district boundaries, as the two parties let a strictly political dispute over gerrymandering overshadow much more crucial issues.

How sad. So much time wasted, so few issues seriously tackled.

While working on this column, I pulled from my shelf a copy of "Changing Metropolitan America," a book former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut wrote a few years ago. It deals with issues of sustainability, transit, sprawl and regional cooperation. I wish every member of the City-County Council would read it.

"Leaders," Hudnut wrote, "persuade people to work together. They don't go it alone. They partner. And they help each partner play their A-game."

There's nothing wrong with battles over city policy and spending. There's nothing wrong with debating tax incentives for new developments or the need for new charter schools. Although local government is about the basics, the solutions to city problems are not always simple and often require hard-fought political battles.

But those battles of late too often have been not about ideas but rather political parties. That kind of thinking should be tossed in the trash -- if it ever gets picked up, that is.